Sincerley, K.

Chapter One

Well...here I am. Another day of life, another day of therapy. Glinda, the receptionist at the office, smiled her cheesy, over-enthusiastic smile in my direction. I fired back my (patented) shut-up-don't-look-at-me face. I practiced it in the mirror a lot, with my furrowed eyebrows and squinted eyes. The icing on the cake, however, was the slight head flick. It makes it all look really threatening.
It brought joy to me to see Glinda wilter into her chair, a timid look on her face.
She was always too happy.
"Harper," called a voice. "Do come in!"
Groaning, I trudged to Celia's office. If you hadn't made the connection, she was my therapist. I normally enjoyed seeing Celia, but today was just not a good day.
I passed the bathroom and caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. Immediately disgusted, I focused in on everything ugly about myself. My green eyes looked small and I had a large pimple on my cheek. My thick, auburn hair was a tad frizzy, and combined with the bags under my eyes and my black clothes, I looked like I belonged in a psych ward. The mirror disappeared, but the thoughts didn't.
I hardly made eye contact with Celia as I plopped down into her plush couch.
She sat across from me, studying me closely. Moments later, she broke the tension with an exasperated sigh.
"Well, Harper, I know that something is wrong with you today, but I don't quite know what, and it is very, very, very frustrating."
I hang my head and look at her through my eyelashes.
"I got a note."
"A note." Celia echoes, trying to hide her interest. "From a...?"
"Boy." I say shortly, glancing up at her.
She slowly grins, and I feel myself smile, too.
"Was it a...?"
"Love letter? Yeah..."
"And you don't know who it's from?"
"Right."
"How is this possibly be upsetting in any way?"
"Don't you see Celia? It's just a dumb prank. No one really loves me."
At least I'm pretty sure. Part of me was still hoping that someone really did like me, and that's why I was upset. Celia just doesn't get that sometimes...